Invented in the sixteenth century, the camera obscura is made out of an arrangement of lenses and mirrors in a box (or room) that is darkened. When looking through the lens of a 'camera obscura', the view presented is actually reflected through the mirrors onto the paper or cloth and allows the artist to draw by tracing the outline. This forerunner of the modern camera was a tool for recording an optically accurate image, often of topographical detail (Canaletto used one to study his vedute prior to painting).